Henry M. Johnson, Acushnet (Whaler) logbook, 1845-1847. Log 1234. Ink, pencil, and watercolor on paper. Gift of Augustus P. Loring, 1957. Phillips Library, Peabody Essex Museum.
I read nonfiction all day for work, and I have felt for some time that there was a gap in my life that used to be filled by fiction. I recognized that maybe I needed some incentive to read for pleasure.
Then, nearly a year ago, both PEM and the ICA in Boston had exhibitions related to Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby-Dick. This felt like a sign that Moby-Dick should be in my life. On a whim, I posted on Facebook that I wanted to start a Moby-Dick book club, and two of my best friends responded. None of us had read Moby-Dick, but we had all wanted to read it for a while.
This was not a well-planned or organized endeavor; it was just three friends reading the same book at the same time (and an excuse to hang out with my favorite people more often). Jessica and Ezra did not really know each other before we started reading, but it did not take more than a meeting or two before they became fast friends.
It has been such a wonderful experience reading with two of my favorite people. We each have different reading styles, and we definitely complement each other that way. It has also been a terrific incentive to read for pleasure, and to see each other more often.
We meet perhaps once a month (sometimes less often) and discuss up to the point where the slowest person has read – and we’ve all been the slowest person at times. We’re reading for fun, not speed. Nearly a year into it, we are around Chapter 85. Reading the novel slowly, and without too much pressure, gives us the opportunity to really dig into the details and helps us retain the pleasurable aspect of it. By only discussing as far as the slowest member has read, no one ever gets left behind, and no one gives up.
As part of the focus on pleasure, we have tried to make our meetings feel like events. It started with oysters and martinis (which remain a favorite), but we have also attended events at PEM (like a concert of whaling shanties!) followed by chocolate at Kakawa. We’ve had wine and cheese in Jessica’s art studio and met over brunch. It’s interesting how meeting at different times of day and in different settings changes the tone of the conversation. It’s also fun pulling out books at restaurants – the waitstaff are always curious! We have plans to visit the New Bedford Whaling Museum and PEM’s Draw Me Ishmael: The Book Arts of Moby Dick exhibition together when we finish the book.
Before we started the book, the whaling industry was a real mystery, so we have also spent a lot of time talking about the sheer logistics of it all – the massive whales, the boats equipped for years of sailing around the world and the mechanics of killing a massive creature with just harpoons. Of course, we have also done some deep dives (pun intended) into whale anatomy.
It has been fascinating reading the book in Salem, knowing Herman Melville’s relationship with local author Nathaniel Hawthorne, and imagining what Salem might have been like in the 1800s. Our favorite Salem-specific reference from the book can be found in Chapter 6, where Melville writes about how the women in Salem smell! “In Salem, where . . . the young girls breathe such musk, their sailor sweethearts smell them miles off shore, as though they were drawing nigh the odorous Moluccas instead of the Puritanic sands.”
We have also spent a lot of time discussing Melville’s prose, his philosophic and religious references and his penchant for hyperbole and foreshadowing, as well as some of the darker themes of the book, including racism and unhealthy obsessions.
Each of us has a different edition of the book (see the photo). This has made some things a bit challenging. I am reading a used copy that I feel free to take notes in, for example, but Jessica is reading a vintage edition that was a gift, so she takes her notes separately. Her copy has different chapter numbering, which can be frustrating, but it also has by far the best artwork.
My best advice for starting a book club is not to be bothered by the details. Pick a book. Ask your friends if they will read it with you. Commit to a first meeting, but don’t be bothered by time, schedules or imaginary deadlines. I recommend taking notes (whatever that means to you), and having extreme flexibility in your pacing. Notes will help remind you where you are if it has been a while since you last picked up the book, and flexibility keeps everyone from feeling guilty or just giving up. No matter how you choose to do it, I wish you happy reading!
Draw Me Ishmael: The Book Arts of Moby Dick is the first exhibition focused on the book arts of the hundreds of editions published since 1851: the illustrations, binding designs, typography and even the physical structures. Drawn almost entirely from the Phillips Library collection, this intimate gallery space explores decades of creative approaches to interpreting the novel visually in book form. The exhibition is on view until March 29, 2026. Follow along on social media using #DrawMeIshmael and listen to the PEMcast episode on the exhibition.
Other readers have been gathering online on select Wednesday evenings for a year-long PEM Reads journey through Moby-Dick. The exploration has been led by Dan Lipcan, the Ann C. Pingree Director of the Phillips Library and curator of Draw Me Ishmael, and David Snider, PEM’s Director of Learning and Community Engagement. The final session of this Moby Dick Read-a-Thon is June 18, 2025. Go to pem.org for more details and for possible future Moby Dick Read-a-Thons as we turn the page to start anew!
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